Carlos was not physically good when he woke up to leave for the summit on
the early morning of Wednesday 21. A big affection in the throat made him
delay his departure. He finally left camp IV around 4 in the morning. It took
him a lot of hours of hard ascent, there were more than 800 m of difference
from camp IV to the summit. At three in the afternoon he was at 200 meters
from the summit, which should mean around three more hours of climbing and
would make him get to the summit by night, and the most important thing to
worry, to descend by night. Because of the hour, the extreme exhaustion he
had, the strong ache in his throat and the condition of some of his fingers,
Carlos took the hard but right decision to turn around and to go back to camp
IV, where he arrived by eight in the evening. He slept there and his intention
was to leave this morning to base camp. He has a long journey, he will tell us
about it when he gets there.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Lhotse, Wednesday May 21, 2008

BACK TO CAMP IV, WITHOUT THE SUMMIT

After long hours of anguish because of lack of news, Carlos has finally
called. He is back to camp IV, he didn't make it to the summit. He sounded
very much on the edge, he had just entered the tent. With many difficulties he
stopped 200 meters short from the summit, he was going to re-hydrate and he
would call back to tell us what had happened. We will keep you posted.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Lhotse, Tuesday May 20, 2008

CAMP IV: Carlos has reached
camp IV in Lhotse around three thirty in the afternoon, Nepal time. This camp
IV is located at 7,700 meters of altitude. The sky was covered below 7,000
meters, but it is very sunny above. In fact, Carlos says he was very hot on
his way up, although the cold was very intense during the night. He is
exhausted, very tired and aching. If he is strong enough, he will try to leave
tonight at two in the morning to the summit. We will keep you posted.

Translated from Spanish by
Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Monday, May 19, 2008

Javier and Carlos have left
camp II first thing this morning. The weather has been bad, covered and with
strong wind. Perez has turned around in the middle of the route and is now
resting in camp II, to continue descending tomorrow. Carlos, after several
hours of a difficult ascent, has reached camp III, where he is installed and
is preparing to spend the night there. He has located that camp at 7,200
meters. Tomorrow, Tuesday, if the weather improves, he will leave to camp IV,
located at 7,700 meters.

Translated from Spanish by
Jorge Rivera

Sunday, May 18, 2008

IN CAMP II

Javier and Carlos have
arrived to camp II today around three in the afternoon, Spain time. They
crossed the Khumbu Icefall, which they found in good conditions. They entered
the Valley of Silence, and have installed camp II, at 6,400 meters of
altitude. It has been a long journey and they are very tired but fine. If the
weather stays stable, they will go to camp III tomorrow morning.

Translated from Spanish by
Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Lhotse, Saturday May 17, 2008

SUMMIT ATTACK

Tomorrow, Carlos Pauner and
Javier Perez will leave base camp to make their first and only summit attack
to the summit of Lhotse. They are in good spirits, and the weather forecasts
predict a window of good weather for the next days. Their plan is to climb
tomorrow to camp II directly where they will spend the night. On Monday
morning they will leave to camp III, they will sleep there and by Tuesday
morning they will climb to camp IV. If everything goes as planned, and the
weather holds, they will try to reach the summit of Lhotse on Wednesday 21.
We will keep you informed.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge
Rivera

Lhotse, Thursday May 15, 2008

FROM LHOTSE BASE CAMP

We have arrived to Lhotse Base
Camp just a few minutes ago, which is common to Everest, at 5,400 m of
altitude. We left Katmandu early yesterday, to catch a flight to Lukla, the
entrance gate to the Khumbu valley. From this place, a small helicopter took
us to lobuche, at 4,900 m of altitude, where we spent the whole day yesterday.
Despite having the previous acclimatization, the sudden change of going from
1,000 to 5,000 meters in some minutes has been noted by our bodies a lot.
Suddenly our bodies have just half the oxygen to live. Even now that they
can do it, the process is slow and we have not felt with much energy these
past hours. This morning we have walked three hours to get here to base camp.
It is impressive, the amount of people here. I have seen it a lot of times
before, but it is impressive anyway how a small city of canvas extends
everywhere. You can look at tents everywhere you look. The absolute chaos
and even the aspect is of a crowded place between one camp and the others. We
can't complain. We sent our staff in advance and now everything is installed
here and in good conditions. The individual tents, the mess tent, the kitchen
tent, etc. Very close to us is the military expedition of the Jaca High
Mountain School. They greeted us very warmly and the truth is that we are
glad that everything is going along well so far. Now, we have to get used
again to this situation in the life of base camp. After last week in
Katmandu, our bodies and mind got used to that situation. The body tried to
heal the important problem of having to ascend above that mark of eight
thousand meters. Now we have to tell our bodies that they have to charge
again, that the body has to prepare again to bear that extreme altitude. It
won't be easy. Maybe that is what worries us most in the expedition. We have
ripped throats, our lungs are not breathing very well and the sings of extreme
fatigue of the eight thousand meters are still present. We are going to
suffer as dogs, but I think that it is worth the try. If after a few days of
rest the weather gives us a chance, we will go up, little by little, without
looking back. We will take take our attempt to the most and with the results
we get, we will go down, satisfied with success, or at least satisfied of
having been able to fight again in the high marks after all that has happened.
For the moment we are fine, established in our new base, with alert senses,
happy that all this difficult plan made during the spring is working perfectly
fine so far and trusting that Lhotse will give us a chance to jump again on
the arena of this white Coliseum of the Himalayas.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge
Rivera

Katmandu,
Sunday May 11, 2008

TIME PASSES
BY, SLOWLY

Without a doubt, time has
another dimension in Katmandu, different from what it is like in our normal
life. Some days are long, eternal, exhausting. You have to look for
entertainment to ease the situation, although the truth is that we don't find
any. At the beginning, the change between base camp to the city made us float
in the air. The luxury and comfort of our temporal urban life, made us forget
the troubles in the altitude. We even could heal some minor aches we were
dragging which are impossible to heal in the altitude. We have had very nice
days with all our Spanish fellow climbers in Katmandu. We talked, remembering
special moments of the expedition or we would just gather to feel the company
of the group. Now they have left to go home and Javier and I have stayed. We
are not so bad, of course, but the feeling of see our friends go home has been
kind of nostalgic. But well, it is just a feeling and we need to look ahead.
We have, believe it or not, a whole expedition ahead. Two more days in this
chaotic city and we will leave to the altitude kingdom again. Tomorrow we
will take care of permits and we will do the last shopping. We have already
sent our light load (we are going to take just 4 barrels to base camp) by
land, trusting to find them on the 14th at base camp. We will meet a lot of
friends there, from other expeditions and they will surely update us on how
things are over there. Our tactic is very very simple. Just one attack, just
one chance, but we are going to wait for the good one. We are not in a rush,
we are acclimatized and we just want to find that window of good weather, like
in Dhaula to get to the highest point in Lhotse. With the experience of other
seasons, I hope this chance will come between the 20 and 27 of this month.
They will be 5 very intense days of mountain, but if we compare with those of
a normal expedition, they will be few. We did acclimatize in Dhaula. Our
body is adapted to altitude. I have been to 8,167 m and my body has had to
modify to keep me alive in that inhuman mark. So, after these days of
recovery in Katmandu, acclimatization doesn't have to be a problem and it has
to let us climb step by step without looking back, until the summit. As
always, the conditions on the mountain will mark the pace, but sincerely, we
are very motivated and with a lot of will to change these days of tedium and
inactivity, for days of summits, sun and Himalayas. Our campaign continues
and soon, very soon, we will be face to face with our great objective: Lhotse

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge
Rivera

Earlier:
Dhaulagiri, TURNING THE PAGE IN KATMANDU

Resting, re-hydrating, eating
good, remembering certain things and forgetting others. In definitive,
turning the page of the expedition to Dhaulagiri. That
is how it should be. We have a new expedition about to start and we
have to leave the past one behind. However, it is
impossible to forget certain moments. It has been a good expedition.
Fast in time, a month at base camp, efficient in its contents, first Aragon
ascent to the summit, first female from Aragon, homage to our late friends and
above all, there was a good environment of friendship and common work.
There were also difficult moments. The
disappearance of our friend Rafa, the debacle of the Argentineans, the late
arrival of Marta to the summit followed by enormous tension during the whole
night until her arrival to camp 3, in the early morning. As in other
occasions, it was a mix of good and bad, but if I had to grade it, without a
doubt, it would be good.

The helicopter, again,
brought us to Katmandu. We have spent 3 days as in a dream, recovering the
wounded senses and turning back to life little by little. However, for Perez
and for me, this is just going to be a parenthesis in this long Nepalese
campaign. In 4 days we will leave to our new objective, to Lhotse, of 8,501 m
of altitude. It is the 4th highest mountain in the world, a great giant, a
titan in the Himalayas. We have taken that decision after meditating very
very well. Our initial objective was, as you know, Everest. However, it was
not a normal year for this mountain. The Chinese government, driven by the
craziness of taking the Olympic torch to the summit, forced Nepal to close the
mountain until May 11. this was at the beginning, because if after their
dates they were delayed, they would have made anything to keep the mountain at
their mercy. The Nepalese government, with a weak character, lowered its head
and even let the Chinese army to its territory, to oversee the integrity of
the measure. Under these conditions, our decision was firm. We were not
going to gamble more than 70,000 dollars on the climbing permit to the wishes
of the short and bossy guys of the other side of the Himalayas. Thus, we
centered on Dhaula and with that blessing, we decidedly go to another Nepalese
giant. We are going to attempt climbing the 8,500 m. of Lhotse. It is not
going to be easy. Elevate, in my case, up to this tremendous mark, after the
great effort we did in Dhaula, is going to mean a total effort, a bullet proof
concentration and a determination similar to that of our beloved Palafox.
Luckily I have all this in my hands and I only wait that the circumstances of
the mountain are good, that Lhotse respects me as a great adversary and that I
can add, in a few days, my ninth eight thousand. Then, the moment to go back
home will come, after almost three months of crusade. I long to see my loved
ones, to hug them and to kiss them. I want to tell them they don't have to
wait anymore, that they don't have to suffer more anguish. But I still can
not do it. The moment has not come yet. There are still tugs of war. I am
not comfortable with just Dhaula. I am thirsty of more mountain, of more
eight-thousands and I go, with a firm step, to calm my thirst on Lhotse.

We will say goodbye to Marta
tomorrow who goes back to Spain to heal her injuries. Not important, but they
have forced her out of this hard and long adventure. We will do all the
paperwork day after tomorrow and on the 13th we will fly again over the
valleys of Nepal, to locate at the 5,400 m of our base camp. There will only
be one attempt, one opportunity and all will be solves in a brief space of
time. We are going for it, for the double play, for all of it.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by
Jorge Rivera

Earlier: THE SUMMIT OF DHAULAGIRI FOR ARAGON

That's right. All our dreams have become true. On May 1,
at 14:00 I stepped on the summit of this beautiful mountain of Nepal. The
wind and the cold were intense, but my feelings were sizzling. I remembered
my friends Garces, Sagaste, Ricardo. I could not stop feeling that this
summit was for them, for all those good climbers who left their lives on this
mountain. I could feel their presence in the middle of the storm. From up
here, elevated at 8,167 m., I was not alone. I was with all of them and
suddenly, as we used to do long ago, we met, although this time in a far away
place. Surrounded by them, I started to descend to camp 3, where I arrived at
6 in the afternoon. A very hard journey, full of emotions. From the early
morning, the mountain showed us its most difficult face. At 3 in the morning
we started the long way to the summit. The wind was intense, the temperature
was 30 degrees Celsius below zero and the doubts were constant along the
ascent. The terrain was more complicated each time. We had to cross all
these terrible slopes of Dhaula. There was no room for error. One error and
a fall of more than 1,000 meters was for sure. A lot of concentration, a lot
of effort. We could see the end of the ascent around 12 in the morning. This
rocky pinnacle, which marks the end of the mountain, looked down at us,
defiant. Ivan, Gerlinde, Ferran, David and Fercho arrived to the summit
around 1. I could see them over this rocky tip that raised against the sky.
The weather was changing, but my will was firm. I could see Marta too,
somewhere below, but doing a terrible effort to reach the summit. The weather
was changing and the summit began to get covered and a strong wind began to
blow. It didn't matter, nothing could stop me. Finally everything was under
my feet. Alex Chicon arrived next to me and we could hug and share this
wonderful moment. My eighth eight-thousand and the first time a man from
Aragon reached this damn summit. Some minutes in this strange place and then
go running to camp 3. I crossed with Marta around 3 in the afternoon. She
was still one hour away from finishing her ascent, more or less. She was very
very excited. I remembered her it was late, that her rhythm was a little
slow, but her illusion to become the first woman from Aragon to crown an
eight-thousand was enormous. I told her to try it, but if she saw a change in
the weather, she shouldn't doubt, she must turn around. I waited at 8,000 m
and could watch how this brave woman reached the summit. The weather gave a
truce and she could make it to this magnificent point. Bravo for her. Once
in camp 3, I waited for her return, melting snow and keeping in contact with
Perez in base camp. Around 2 in the night Perez told me he saw lights coming
down to my position. Long wait. Lots of nerves.
Luckily the night was good for them and around 2 in the morning Marta arrived
to camp 3. Exhausted but happy of being the first woman from Aragon with a
summit of an eight-thousand. She made a big bet and it came out ok. This
time, luck was good for the guys from Aragon. We started to descend on the
next day, reaching base camp at dusk. Perez came out to meet us. We hugged
and we could enjoy all together this so especial and intimate moment. We were
all safe, happy, with a little injury in the fingers that will have to be
evaluated in the next days. Unluckily for us the mountain had charged its
price. It is always like this and a life has been taken away forever. I have
never trusted this mountain. It is dangerous and harsh, but for us that is
all history. Now is the time to rest, to leave this place and to think about
the near future. Satisfaction for the teamwork that was carried out very
well. Our most sincere thanks to those who have supported us and who have
helped us reach to the highest point, to the summit of Dhaulagiri.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Dhaulagiri,
Thursday, May 1, 2008

SUMMIT SUMMIT
SUMMIT!!

12:00 p. m.

This morning
at 10:15 am Spain time, 2:00 Nepal time, Carlos Pauner has made it to the
summit of Dhaulagiri. Marta Alejandre stepped on the summit one and a half
hour later. When Carlos was on the summit, the weather started to change to
bad, with a storm and even lightning. He went down quickly to a more
protected zone at 7,900 meters, where he is now. He is waiting for Marta to
join him to descend together to camp III. The storm had passed and now the
weather is good. Marta and Carlos left last night, finally around 3 am, after
having a very bad night and without being able to sleep. It was a hard and
complicated ascent of more than eleven hours. They will spend this night at
camp III, because it is four in the afternoon there, and they are very tired.
Early tomorrow they will start their descent to base camp. Congratulations
to Carlos for his eighth eight-thousand and to Marta, the first woman from
Aragon who achieves a mountain of more than eight-thousand meters of altitude!
Now we hope they go down without problems and that they would contact us soon
from base camp.

Translated
from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri,
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

CAMP III AT
7,400 METERS

At 14 hours,
Spain time, 6 in the afternoon Nepal time, Carlos called. He and Marta are in
camp III at 7,400 meters. They were exhausted, they had several problems and
had difficulty getting there and organize themselves. The weather is cold and
with a blizzard. Now they were going to rehydrate and to try to rest a
little, whatever they can, because they finally had to share a little tent for
three people. They plan to leave at 2 in the morning for the summit. When we
have more information we will let you know. We hope they get all our support
and our best wishes.

Translated
from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri,
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

IN CAMP II

The three
mountain climbers from Aragon left yesterday, Monday, from base camp. Javier
felt sick climbing to camp I and had to take the hard decision of going back
to base camp, where he is now. Marta and Carlos slept in Camp I, and left to
camp II very early this morning. They are already there, with the other
expeditions at 6,800 meters. It is very cold and the wind is strong. They
found the camp in bad conditions, they could not see the tents, they were
covered with snow. They had to work hard to put the tent in good conditions
again. They rest now and tomorrow, if everything goes well, they will climb
to camp III. Let's hope the weather is good and lets them progress on this
long and hard path to the summit of this mountain of 8,167 meters. We will
keep you posted.

Translated
from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri, Monday, April 28, 2008

BREAKING
NEWS: LEAVING FOR THE SUMMIT

Yesterday,
Sunday in the afternoon, the different expeditions in Dhaulagiri Base Camp
compared their weather forecasts. All matched, a strong front would come on
May 2 during the afternoon and will last ten days.

So, the three
mountain climbers from Aragon, Marta, Javier and Carlos, along with the other
climbers there, decided to change their plans. They have left this very same
morning to the summit of Dhaulagiri. They will get to camp I today, tomorrow,
Tuesday, to camp II and to camp III on Wednesday, and hope to reach the summit
on Thursday morning, May 1st. We will keep you informed about their progress,
wishing them the best.

Translated
from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

two new updates below

Dhaulagiri, Sunday April 20, 2008

BACK TO BASE CAMP

Marta, Javier and Carlos have gone back to base camp today,
Sunday, at 14 hours Nepal time. They are very tired, after having spent
four days in high altitudes, but satisfied for the important progress they
made with their acclimatization. Yesterday, Saturday, the left from Camp I
to Camp II, where they have arrived the day before and where they had left
materials. This camp II is located exactly at 6,800 meters of altitude.
They slept there, and this morning they planed to fix a line to camp III.
Ivan and Fercho started to do it, both of them from the Al Filo expedition,
and they fixed some 200 meters of rope, but because of the very strong wind
all the climbers that were in camp II came back to base. Carlos will tell
us tomorrow in detail about how these four days in the high altitude were.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri, Friday, April 18, 2008

AT 6700 METERS

Yesterday, Thursday morning, Marta Javier and Carlos left
base camp with everything they need to spend three nights in high altitude.
They arrived to camp I, very tired, because there was very deep snow and
they opened the trail along the way. They spent the night there. Today,
Friday by the morning, they have left to camp II. The weather has not been
good. It was very cold, with a blizzard and very little visibility. They
decided to locate camp II some 300 meters above where it is usually located,
because they saw it was more secure there (the usual camp 2 is known by its
risks of avalanches). So they climbed to 6,700 meters and they started to
mount the camp there, under a serac. But the strong blizzard has made them
decide to leave a depot there (the tents and other materials) and they went
down to sleep in camp I. Tomorrow, Saturday, they will climb again to camp
II at 6,700 meters, with the intention of sleeping there if the weather lets
them. They plan to go down back to base camp on Sunday morning, where they
will have a few days to recover and a well deserved rest.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Dhaulagiri, Wednesday April 16, 2008

A BIG OPPORTUNITY

We are in our
base camp, resting quietly and the weather is very good. It doesn't snow and
the sun shines. The fallen snow has been purged from the mountain and the
conditions look good. Also, the different weather forecasts of the different
expeditions, who are around here, match and it looks like there are some days
of good weather coming. It is the big opportunity, that window that will let
us work on the mountain during 3 or 4 days to open the gate to hope.

After the
meeting we had yesterday with all the groups, we decided to work together,
Spaniards (most of us), Czechs, Polish, and the others, to open the gate to
Dhaulagiri. This means, be able to get all the necessary rope to camp 2 and
fix it between camp 2 and camp 3 at almost 7,200 m of altitude. Each group,
after camp 2 is installed and the rope is fixed above 7,000m, has the
opportunity to go to the summit in a very close future.

So our team
will climb on Thursday to camp 1, which was installed a few days ago. We will
sleep there and then we will go to camp 2, to install it and to sleep. On the
next day we will have to work on the route again and then go back to sleep in
camp 2. at down, back to the comfort of our little home at base camp. A lot
of work, but necessary work on the mountain. If everything goes well, we
would have opened the route and we will be in a very different phase. We will
be thinking about the first attacks to the summit. Almost nothing.

Today we have
to prepare everything, so that nothing is missing up there. Tents, gas, food,
rope, nails, etc., etc. A lot of equipment, but everything will be necessary
up there. We also have to prepare our minds. After these days of calm, days
of a lot of work are coming, of a lot of effort and of course, a lot of risk.
No doubt, personally it won't be easy for me to sleep in the same place where
Ricardo, Garcés and Santiago lay. My mind can not forget the big moments we
lived, specially with Ricardo. I shared expeditions with him, moments of
friendship, dreams, illusions and part of my life went with him forever. No,
it won't be easy to be there. But I will be. It will be a homage for them
all, to these brave warriors that gave their lives chasing a dream. What an
example for those of us left. How much limitless braveness, to fight until
the end, without doubts, no ambiguities or foolishness. I am proud of having
met you, of having learned from you, of being able to share part of my life
with so special people. Thanks brothers. All my effort in these days will be
dedicated to your glorious memory. I love you and you are a part of me. You
are a part of the Himalayas forever. This one is for you and your families.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaularigi, Sunday
April 13, 2008

NEW YEAR IN NEPAL

Today we celebrate New Year in Nepal. We
start 2,065 with good wishes and good vibes. Also Nepal is having
constitutional elections, a new hit that will mark the future of this small
country full of mountains. For us these are days of calm, of rest, after
having climbed to the 5,900 m mark and having installed camp 1, the first high
altitude camp out of the 3 we need to climb to the summit of this giant. In
some 6 and a half hours we crossed under the little Eiger, a vertical wall
that looms over base camp, to then cross a glacier lake up to a huge Col that
is part of the beginning of the NE ridge of Dhaulagiri. We arrived with good
weather, mounted the tents and started with the job of melting snow to get
water. As the night fell, the snow came and on the next day a white blanket
covered everything. After spending the night in that place we started to
descent to base camp, to rest and to let the body recover from the effort we
made. So far, everything is going as planned. On the next leg we will have
to mount camp 2 at around 6,500m, but that will be in a few days.

Today the sun is like new over our base
camp and we have cooked good food. We brought two good pieces of cod and our
friend Asier, member of another expedition, has instructed our cook in the
arts of cooking this delicacy. The result couldn't be better and we have
tasted a good pil pil cod which was a gift to our mouths. Our spirit can not
be higher and we are fine, with our work up to date and with energy to strike
hard on the mountain.

Despite the altitude and the cold, the
computers and cameras are working perfectly. We use the central hours of the
day, the hour with more heat to work with them and to send the chronicles and
pictures of our doings, and the videos for Aragon television. It is a hard
job, but it is nice to be able to share you all these landscapes, so far from
our home like wild things because of their forms. We spoke with
expeditioneers from other countries about our mountains, about our customs and
we can't help showing some melancholy after these three weeks we have been
away from our home. Little by little time passes by and we get used to be
here, to live among the ice and stones, listening to avalanches during the
night or feeling good with the first sunshine in a frosty morning. Like
animals of habits that we are, we need to keep going up, to keep dreaming with
the far summit of our mountain.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri, Thursday, April 10, 2008

FIRST APPROACHES

We finally went into the mountain. After all this preparation time, approaches
and problems, we mounted these first snowy slopes of Dhaulagiri. The idea was
very simple, to start to move a little and to take some load to make an
intermediate depot between base camp and camp 1. We took advantage that the
weather was good and we left base camp around 7 thirty. The first steps are
always hard, because the acclimatization is not complete and we can note the
lack of oxygen, because at this altitude it is 50% of what we enjoy on the
beach. Little by little we go higher over the edge of the glacier, until the
most horizontal part of it, where we leave the dept and turn around. From
here we still have a good part of the cracked glacier and some formidable
slopes that will take us to the 5,900 m of camp 1. But that will be another
day. So far, the objective has been met. We left 2 tents, shovels, gas and
some rope in this place. We will pick all these on a next day along with the
sleeping bags, and it will be enough to mount our first high altitude camp.

Today, 10, we woke up to a fantastic
sun. The sky is completely clean and it is hot. We notice the exhaustion in
our legs, but it has been good to make them march a little. We had fried eggs
and ham for breakfast and we tried the energy recoverer from Domingo, the
owner of La Paz orthopedics, who as always, has given them to us kindly. That
is a curious mix of new technology and traditional food. Personally, I think
that the two things can be together. The taste and the senses rejoice while
tasting the food of our land, and muscles get benefit of these light and
energetic shakes that help us recover a little from the whipping we are
getting here. We are in a world of contrasts. Tents on ice and stones, but
inside we have the most advanced technology to send pictures and video.
Energy bars of the latest generation and a can of olive oil from Aragon.
Unbearable heat during the day and freezing cold when the lights hide.
Everything is like that here. Tranquility at base camp or situations of
extreme danger above it. Contrast after
contrast. It is an special world
where climbing, as Duch, is just a part of a whole. You have to get used to
living in these places, to negotiate with cooks and porters. To face solitude
which sometimes smothers you. To stand the pressure of an imminent departure
to a treacherous and dangerous terrain. In definitive one has to learn to
live with new rules, simple, precise and hard. Nothing is free in the
Himalayas, you have to fight for everything. Maybe that is why we are so
attracted to be here and to prove or physical strength and weaknesses. If, as
we had planned, tomorrow we would leave with all the equipment to camp 1,
without a doubt, we would have a good slice of the Himalayas for our bodies.
But that, that, is another story…

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri, Tuesday April 8,
2008

THE PUJA

The Puja ceremony again. The
lama recites some sacred chants and an offer of tsampa and food is made for
the spirits of the mountains. Everything finishes with the trowing of flour
and rice to the wind and then the prayer flags are hanged in the direction
of the cardinal points. The sun shines and you could almost say that
Dhaulagiri gives us its polite side. We won´t let us be fooled. Dhaula is
a cruel and dangerous mountain, which has taken a lot of good friends.
Although the sun shines and everything looks fine, soon we will have to face
a number of dangers and difficult situations. It is just a parenthesis in
our expedition. We feast the gods, we wish us all good luck on the mountain
and we celebrate the occasion with good food. Even with our faces covered
with tsampa, we sit down by the table to taste a potato tortilla in the most
hispanic style, some meatballs that look homemade and salad. The Cariñena
wine wets our throats and for a moment we feel like transported home. We
are here at 4,700 m, but we enjoy our customs and gastronomy. Tomorrow will
be another day. Tomorrow at 7 in the morning, we will leave to the first
snowy slopes. Our intention is to fix the first 400 m of rope. It is a
very vertical part, with unstable snow, which gives access to the glassier,
the entrance gate to camp 1. At the end, a long slope of frozen snow takes
us to a big flat, at 5,850 m, where we will locate the first high altitude
camp. We are not going to get so far. It is just a matter of installing
equipment in this first part and to have the first contact with the
mountain. We will check the status of the snow and we will stretch our legs
a little, because they haven't worked since a few days ago. We start our
first climb, with calm, focussed and with a deep conviction to reach, this
time, our objective in a few weeks. The mountain will decide later.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by
Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri,
Thursday, April 3, 2008

IN THE MIDDLE OF
NOTHING

I couldn't have
said it better, we are trapped in the middle of nothing. Above, a journey to
get to base camp, by a very dangerous trail because of the large amount of
snow that has fallen. Below, the valley we left, covered with clouds and with
bad weather. Our porters have ran away after seeing the current conditions
and the helicopter can't fly to take us with our loads to base camp, well
above 1,000 meters up. We couldn't make anything, not without waiting and see
how the weather changes. It was better yesterday, but this morning, sitting
on these stones, waiting for the big iron bird to save us, our hope is
fading. While time passed by, larger clouds appeared and by lunch time the
snow feel on our improvised camp.

Tomorrow we will
repeat the ritual, we will unmount everything and we will wait for the weather
to calm, just for a few hours, early. Let's see if there is luck and if it is
enough to reach our destination. We need to get to base camp, mount our home,
which is going to be home for a long time, rest and start a new chapter in
this expedition. All this makes us think that an expedition is a lot of
things and always there is something bad with one of them and that disturbs
our spirit. We are going to be optimistic and we will hope for the best, that
maybe we will soon enjoy the arrival to our destination, the end of our long
trip to the most far away point from the civilization that we know of.

Carlos Pauner

Translated form
Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dhaulagiri,
Sunday, April 06, 2008

BELIEVE IT OR
NOT

Such are things
in the Himalayas. When you think that, after so many expeditions nothing can
surprise you, an event comes and it does in a hard way. Our approach to base
camp has not been, after all, what you could call easy. It is true that right
now, we are resting with all our equipment here at this place 4,700 m of
altitude, in the such called Dhaulagiri Base Camp. But to get here we have
lived a very hard to imagine odyssey. On Friday we were at 3,600 m of
altitude, blocked by the snow and with no porters. Aware of our poor
situation, we had decided to call a helicopter to carry all our load to our
final destination. After a day of waiting, this Friday morning, although
late, that monster Russian apparatus that cruises the skies of Nepal came. It
made two trips, fully loaded, to carry our colleagues of Al Filo (de lo
Imposible, of Televisión Española), because they had been waiting for 5 days
in this place and our turn came. We loaded the rig with all our equipment and
the bird attempted to take off. Impossible. The pilot said we had to leave
400 kg of weight there. We opted to leave some kerosene and rice. It was too
hot at that time of the morning, sustentation was low, the chopper was heavy
and it was not possible to control during landing. I could not avoid goose
bumps, to remember how 2 days ago, in this very same place, we crashed on the
ground with a similar rig, although we miraculously saved our lives. The
pilot aborted the maneuver and turned with no doubt, to Pokhara, where we
landed by noon. Incredible. We were with all our equipment, wearing our
mountain clothes and with goofy faces, in this pretty town where our trekking
had started one week ago. The pilot said he was sorry, but he felt he could
not land safely. We were left for a while with no idea what to do, heated up
because of the tropical temperature, watching how our things were unloaded.
We had changed from being in base camp to be back to the beginning. I could
not believe it.

Luckily, we made
the right paperwork and on the next day, very early, we rented a new flight to
base camp, where we arrived without trouble, although, I could not believe it
until I stepped on the ground. We are here now. This troubled trip has ended
and, although it snows endlessly and the weather is hellish, we are happy
because we start the fundamental part of our expedition to Dhaulagiri. We
have lived days of incertitude, of edgy flights between cliffs and glaciers,
of risk, of carrying loads from here to there, of desperation and uneasiness.
Luckily everything has passed. We are safe in our little home and although we
have not been able to mount it the way we want, we hope to see the sun and to
get comfortable for our long stay on the mountain.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from
Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: DHAULAGIRI
REVISITED

Once again, our steps are in the direction of one of these
great Nepal mountains. Little by little we are gaining altitude by these green
valleys, filled with vegetation and humidity. We are on our way to Dhaulagiri
(8,167 m.), a big mountain that rejected me in 2006. That time, luck, so needed
in these expeditions, was scarce and we had to quit to our dreams very close to
the summit. Time has passed by, there have been other summits and again, the
turn has come for this white mountain of the Himalayas. We left from Pokhara a
few days ago, Javier, Marta and myself, towards Beni, over a wrecked road. From
there we started to walk and today, after walking for three days, we are now at
3,000 m. of altitude. We have walked over this large valley, in parts very
similar to others. We are 2 days away from our base camp, which will be located
at 4,700 m. of altitude and the news that come from above, as usual, are bad.
There is a lot of snow and porters can't reach our base camp. Tomorrow we will
go up to 3,500 m. to the Italian camp, where other groups are waiting with their
porters for the weather to improve. So far it doesn't look likely. It rains
every day and at this altitude, that means snow. It looks like the only
solution is for everybody to go by helicopter up to base camp, which is not very
funny for us. On one hand because of the cost and on the other because of the
risk involved. I still get goose bumps when I remember the accident we had
while we were leaving this same base camp in 2006. Luck smiled at us that time
and we were miraculously alive and safe, after hitting the ground while taking
off from our base camp. We will see tomorrow and if there is no choice, the
risk would have to be taken, like many others we had taken on our backs.
Anyway, this is not good. If the snow doesn't let us reach base camp, it is not
difficult to imagine how much snow is loaded on the mountain. Anyway, let us
wait. There is still a long way to go and we have just begun. Let's trust
everything goes nice in this expedition we are starting.